العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolSIXTEEN PREFECTURES
The 'Sixteen Prefectures' are a region in northern China stretching from present-day Beijing westward to Datong. In most areas, it is approximately seventy to one hundred miles in width. It covers a strategic area of modern Hebei and Shanxi that became the focus of contention between the Khitan Liao Dynasty to the north and the Shatuo Turk Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty and Later Han Dynasty, along with the Han Chinese Later Zhou Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.
The Sixteen Prefectures were in reality nineteen prefectures. They stretched from the coast of the Bo Sea to Yan (modern-day Beijing) westward to Datong in Shanxi. The area is mountainous with numerous strategic passes vital to guarding the Chinese heartland from the steppe tribes to the north. It also runs along the southern edge of what were in the tenth century the remnants of the original wall system that separated traditional Chinese lands from those of the steppes to the north.
Main articles: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
At the same time the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, a new power was rising to the north of China. Known as the Khitan, they had just crowned a new tribal leader by the name of Abaoji, the first from the Yila tribe after some two centuries of leadership by the Yaolian clan. As Abaoji was building up his power in the north among the peoples of the steppe, northern China was facing instability and turmoil.
The first of the Five Dynasties was the Later Liang Dynasty, which was founded in 907 and lasted until 923. During this period of time, the Sixteen Prefectures were still under Chinese control and the greatest threat to Later Liang security was not the Khitan, but an assimilated people known as the Shatuo Turks who held onto their power base in Shanxi.
The Shatuo Turks gained in strength through the 910s until finally in , Mote, F.W., , , Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0674012127
| Contents |
| Geography |
| Five Dynasties |
| Liao Rule |
| Liao-Song and the Sixteen Prefectures |
| Reference |
Geography
The Sixteen Prefectures were in reality nineteen prefectures. They stretched from the coast of the Bo Sea to Yan (modern-day Beijing) westward to Datong in Shanxi. The area is mountainous with numerous strategic passes vital to guarding the Chinese heartland from the steppe tribes to the north. It also runs along the southern edge of what were in the tenth century the remnants of the original wall system that separated traditional Chinese lands from those of the steppes to the north.
Five Dynasties
Main articles: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
At the same time the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, a new power was rising to the north of China. Known as the Khitan, they had just crowned a new tribal leader by the name of Abaoji, the first from the Yila tribe after some two centuries of leadership by the Yaolian clan. As Abaoji was building up his power in the north among the peoples of the steppe, northern China was facing instability and turmoil.
The first of the Five Dynasties was the Later Liang Dynasty, which was founded in 907 and lasted until 923. During this period of time, the Sixteen Prefectures were still under Chinese control and the greatest threat to Later Liang security was not the Khitan, but an assimilated people known as the Shatuo Turks who held onto their power base in Shanxi.
The Shatuo Turks gained in strength through the 910s until finally in , Mote, F.W., , , Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0674012127
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
